Later text
For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”
Intertextuality Pair
Quotation
Later text
For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”
Earlier text
Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
Paul introduces this citation with the explicit formula "the Scripture says" (legei gar hē graphē) and quotes Deuteronomy 25:4 verbatim: "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." This is the same Deuteronomic text Paul had already applied in 1 Corinthians 9:9 using a qal wahomer argument — if God cares about oxen being fed while they work, how much more should laborers in the gospel receive material support? The application is analogical rather than typological: the principle of allowing a worker to benefit from his labor, established in the Mosaic agricultural law, applies a fortiori to elders who labor in preaching and teaching. Paul treats the Deuteronomic command as embodying a universal principle of justice rooted in God's character.